Australia's oldest man knits jumpers for tiny penguins

SOFTIES: Soft toy penguins show off some of the best sweater designs the Phillip Island team have received. Which is your fave? We're tossing up between Super Penguin and Literary Penguin.

When the call went out for jumpers to protect tiny penguins from oil, 109-year-old Alfred "Alfie" Date took up his needles.

The result could hardly be cuter, with the small birds looking snug in their multi-coloured attire (while not actually knitted by Date, the Penguin book-themed sweater in the picture above actually completes us).

The request for the jumpers was made last year by the Penguin Foundation, which works to protect a colony of the little penguins (that's their actual name) on Phillip Island, which is about 130km southeast of Melbourne.

Nurses at Date's aged-care village on the NSW Central Coast asked if he would like to be involved.

The then 108-year-old, who is Australia's oldest man, and who learned to knit about 80 years ago, was happy to oblige.

The jumpers had an important role in saving little penguins affected by oil pollution, the foundation said.

"A patch of oil the size of a thumbnail can kill a little penguin. Oiled penguins often die from exposure and starvation. Oil separates and mats feathers, allowing water to get in which makes a penguin very cold, heavy and less able to successfully hunt for food."

Jumpers prevented oiled penguins from preening and swallowing the toxic oil before they were washed so the the oil could be removed.

The effectiveness of the jumpers could be seen during the last major oil spill near Phillip Island in 2001, when 96 per cent of 438 affected little penguins were rehabilitated and released back into the wild.